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Projects Updates for place: Lincoln Avenue Residence Hall

  1. Update from Brent regarding milkweed recommendation

    Associated Project(s): 
    Increase Pollinator-Friendly Areas
    Bee Campus USA

    Jen asked Brent on March 1 about the status of LW004 Monarchs Need Milkweed and ALUFS006 Increased Agroforestry. Brent responded on March 1 with the following message:

    Hi Jennifer,

    On this one, Morgan has our response.  We want to do the work with F&S Grounds, but would like to have the SSC pay for seeds.  I think I have a cost of $2200, which would allow for us to seed a fairly large amount of the low mow spaces on campus.  F&S wouldn’t charge for our time as we would be broadcasting, which isn’t difficult.  The benefit of having us do the seeding is that we would know where it was.  We would also focus on the higher visibility areas to greatest impact.

    If we can get funding soon, we can get the seeds ordered for this year. 

    Thanks!

  2. iSEE Quarterly update for Winter 2022

    Associated Project(s): 
    Report on Progress
    iSEE Campus as a Living Lab (CALL) Projects
    iSEE Congress
    Environmental Leadership Program (ELP)
    Certificate in Environmental Writing (CEW) [ARCHIVED]
    Grind2Energy
    Fighting Illini, Fighting Waste
    Illini Lights Out
    Achieve Zero Waste
    Certified Greener Campus Programs
    Bee Campus USA

    Greetings, Colleagues,

     

    I hope the start of 2023 is going well. I’m reaching out today to send you iSEE Quarterly update for Winter 2022 from the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment.

     

    For more up-to-date news from iSEE, please sign up for our E-newsletter at https://illinois.edu/fb/sec/5031776.

     

    IN RESEARCH

     

     IN EDUCATION & OUTREACH

    • Registration is open for iSEE Congress 2023 — “Addressing Crises of a Planetary Scale: Lessons from Pandemics and Climate Change.”
    • The Fall 2023 Critical Conversation is expected to bring together stakeholders to discuss climate-smart commodities.
    • iSEE’s Environmental Leadership Program for Spring 2023 is already more than past the midway point; check out our student blog for some perspective on the immersive learning experience.
    • Read a Certificate in Environmental Writing (CEW) success story in former Q author and CEW recipient Zack Fishman.

     

    IN CAMPUS SUSTAINABILITY

    • Our Grind2Energy video explored how dining hall food waste produces energy and fertilizer; its release spurred coverage by The News-Gazette and WCIA-TV.
    • iSEE’s new, more comprehensive Student Action webpage offers listings for iSEE jobs, volunteering, and student organizations to join.
    • Illini Lights Out fall semester featured RECORD totals: more than 640 volunteers turned off 20,303 bulbs, saving the campus as much as 35,000 kWH, $3,090, and nearly 25 tons of GHG. Spring dates: Jan. 27 (130+ volunteers, 5,043 bulbs, 8,700 kWH, $760, 6.2 tons of GHG), Feb. 10 and 24, March 24, and April 21.
    • At the November Zero Waste basketball game (see video) more than 280 pounds of beverage containers and other recyclables were diverted from the landfill. The next Zero Waste basketball game March 2 seeks 100 volunteers. iSEE partnering with F&S, Housing, Athletics, and Union for a #don’twasteWednesdays twitter campaign all spring. FALL PLAN: a ZW football tailgate.
    • A new Waste Transfer Station video shows the great work by Facilities & Services — but also the need for all campus community members to pre-sort their recyclables to prevent them from becoming landfill waste.
    • Greener Campus certifications in the new year: One new office (Visit Champaign County!), one new chapter (Sigma Lambda Gamma sorority), and nine new events (including Illini Lights Out) certified in January.
    • Read our article about the sustainable features of Campus Recreation and our feature about the new beekeeping club on campus.

     

    Thanks for reading, and best wishes for the remainder of the spring semester!

     

    Best,

    Madhu Khanna

     

     

    Madhu Khanna

    Pronouns: she, her

    Alvin H. Baum Family Chair & Director, Institute for Sustainability, Energy and Environment

    ACES Distinguished Professor in Environmental Economics

    Co-Director, Center for Economics of Sustainability

    University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

    1301, W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801

     

     

     

  3. Zero Waste iCAP Meeting 12/8/2022

    Associated Project(s): 
    Develop Sustainable Purchasing Policies
    Division of Intercollegiate Athletics (DIA) Climate Action Plan
    Food Waste Reduction
    Plastic Bag Recycling
    Zero Waste iCAP Team

    On December 8th, the Zero Waste iCAP team met to discuss a new approach to creating recommendations for next semester. During the meeting, the team created subcommittees based on aspects of the key priorities document and provided feedback on an environmental engineering sustainability project. 

    Meeting minutes are attached.

    Attached Files: 

  4. Pollinator Signage Final Report

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bee Campus USA
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)

    Several students apart of the Sustainability Living-Learning Community attended the 2017 AASHE Student Summit and participated in a Bee Campus USA workshop. These students decided that the University should obtain Bee Campus USA Certification for UIUC. Displaying signage focused on pollinator conservation was one of the requirements for this certification. Four signs were installed, and since their installment UIUC is a part of Bee Campus USA.

    Attached is the full report.

     

    Attached Files: 

  5. Zero Waste iCAP Meeting 11/7/2022

    Associated Project(s): 
    Division of Intercollegiate Athletics (DIA) Climate Action Plan
    Green Sports Alliance (GSA)
    Food Waste Reduction
    Increase Recycling Rates
    Project4less
    Zero Waste iCAP Team

    On November 7th, the Zero Waste iCAP team met to discuss DIA sustainability initiatives with Tim Knox and made edits on the Project 4 Less expansion recommendation to be submitted in the coming month(s). 

    Meeting minutes are attached.

    Attached Files: 

  7. Information on moving bees around for commercial agriculture

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bee Campus USA

    Information about how commercial bee keeping functions and its impact to overall bee populations was inquired about by Brent Lewis, Landscape Architect. Below is the response from Adam Donzel, an Assistant Professor in Entomology. 

    'Hi Brent,

     

    Yeah, there is work on that.  Here are links to couple studies about it:

     

    https://www.nature.com/articles/srep32023

    https://academic.oup.com/jinsectscience/article/22/1/17/6523145

     

    Basically, yes, there are some stresses involved with migratory beekeeping but sedentary colonies can also have similar issues. In some scenarios, migratory colonies could be healthier as they are moved to areas with good nutritional resources all the time, while those left in place have to deal with times of low food availability. In reality, though, migratory colonies do undergo a lot of stress as they are used to pollinate crops and a lot goes into that - the stress of confinement, heat, exposure to agrochemicals, etc. From a beekeeping perspective, this is calculated into the fees charged for pollination (to some extent at least). Right now, beekeepers charge about $200/hive to pollinate almonds for example (the most lucrative pollination event). Big beekeepers manage 20,000-50,000 hives!  "Small" commercial beekeepers usually have 2-5000.

     

    Migratory beekeeping uses about 85% of the managed colonies in the USA (incredible!). One big issue with this is that, if a new pest or pathogen is introduced, it will be spread throughout the country very fast. And in big pollination events, like almonds, hives are concentrated at very high densities, which does present a lot of opportunities for spreading diseases. They do mitigate this to some extent, however, as there are health checks required to move bees across state lines, and almond growers usually require checks of colonies to make sure they are healthy.

     

    Hope this helps - always happy to answer questions when I can!"

     

     

  10. Mason Bee House Workshop

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bee Campus USA

    Join Piatt County Master Gardener Kent McFarland as he explains the importance of having a Mason Bee House in your garden, and walks you through the steps of building one using recycled and natural materials. Registration is required; $15/person, includes all materials.

    March 26, 10–11 am • Registration Deadline: 3/18/22 • Greenhouse Auditorium at Allerton Park & Retreat Center

    Olivia Warren • Allerton Park & Retreat Center

    Mason Bee House Workshop

  11. Zero Waste iCAP Team Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Zero Waste iCAP Team
    Achieve Zero Waste
    Food Waste Reduction
    Large-Scale Food Waste Composting

    The Zero Waste iCAP Team met on Thursday, January 27 to finalize the recommendations drafted at the end of last semester, the Water Drinking Behavior Survey and the Water Filter System Tracking. The team also discussed several recommendations they intend to pursue this semester, including: Adopt-a-Highway program, Food Literacy Project, Composting Committee, P Card Training and Sustainable Receipt options. Meeting minutes are attached.

    Attached Files: 

  12. BeeSpotter Project Page Proposal

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bee Campus USA

    From: White, Morgan

    To: Moore, Meredith Kaye

     

    Hi Meredith,

     

    Where on the portal do you think BeeSpotter belongs? I'm thinking it should be in the Resilience theme, but I'm not sure whether it should be under one of the other projects or just under the main one.

     

    Morgan

     

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     

    From: Moore, Meredith Kaye

    To: White, Morgan

     

    Hi Morgan,

     

    That’s a good question. In my opinion, it doesn’t seem to fit well with any of the other projects under the resilience theme page. So unless we want to create a new project “support local pollinator projects” (or something of the sort) with the intention of adding additional pollinator projects, I vote for now let’s make it a project under the main theme. Does that make sense?

    Thanks,
    Meredith
     
    Link to proposal:

    https://uillinoisedu-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/fandsamaloto2_ad_u...

    Link to BeeSpotter:

    https://beespotter.org/

  13. Good2Go Student Report

    Associated Project(s): 
    Reusable Containers

    Arden Youn, Wei-Ting Yang, Alaa Eldemerdash, Jasmine Jacome, and Gil Perez, Gies College of Business graduate students, spent the semester reviewing the Good2Go Reusable Dining Container program. The PowerPoint is attached and the link to the recording of the final presentation is found below. 

    View the recording here.

    Attached Files: 

  14. Funding Approval for Grind2Energy

    Associated Project(s): 
    Grind2Energy
    Utilize Carbon Credits
    Carbon Credit Purchasing Program (C2P2) with Second Nature

    Ehab Kamarah and Madhu Khanna approved $135,000 of funding from the Carbon Credit Sales Fund for the Grind2Energy system.

    "This project will install the Grind2Energy system for food waste at the Lincoln Avenue
    Dining Hall on campus... Housing has successfully installed the Grind2Enery system as a sustainable solution for dining hall pre-consumer and post-consumer food waste in four of the five dining halls. This funding would allow them to complete the final installation before the student body returns in fall 2022." -Morgan White (12/14/2021)

     

    An email of approval is attached below.

    Attached Files: 

  15. Information Regarding Grind2Energy Funding for LAR

    Associated Project(s): 
    Grind2Energy
    Carbon Credit Purchasing Program (C2P2) with Second Nature

    The following message was sent to Morgan White to share with Carbon Credit Fund Administrators by Thurman Etchison, the Assistant Director of Dining - Facilities and Equipment, on November 18, 2021. The email & attachments contain important information regarding the potential installation of a Grind2Energy system at LAR:

    Carbon Credit Fund Administrators,

     

    Housing Dining Services is seeking funds to add a Grind 2 Energy system to our Lincoln Avenue Dining Hall. Grind 2 Energy is a system that allows us to put our food waste into a pumpable slurry so that it may be taken to an anerobic digester at the Urbana-Champaign Sanitary District. These systems replace the aerobic digesters we previously had in our dining units. The aerobic digesters had issues with the effluent not meeting EPA standards.

     

    This system would be our fifth and likely final system as we would have one at every residential dining location. These are operational at Ikenberry, PAR, FAR and ISR. Currently, University Housing does not have resources to fund this project due to the impact of COVID on our budget. We would reach out to the Student Sustainability Committee for funding but for us to do the infrastructure work and have the unit installed prior to the next school year, we need to start before the next round of submissions.

     

    The use of Grind 2 Energy has been a very successful program for us. It meets our needs, keeps us in compliance with regulatory bodies, is comparable in costs to other methods of disposal. It is very sustainable in terms of the environment. To date, we have diverted 289 tons of food waste even though there was limited use until this school year.

     

    The amount we are requesting is $133,538.00. A simple breakdown of our expected costs is below. As our tradespeople have installed the 4 previous units, we believe this number to be very accurate. Our last unit came in within $1000 of our estimate.

     

    LAR Grind 2 Energy – Preliminary Budget Cost

    • LAR Grind 2 Energy System (equipment and labor)…..................................................................... $86,000
      • (Rigging fees)........................................................................................................................... $4,650
    • Concrete Slab Work (existing planter modifications site work & new concrete slab)….................... $23,100
    • New Wall at Table (Demolition, floor work, ceiling work, MEP & new wall)…................................... $19,788
    • TOTAL:                                                                                                                                              $133,538

     

    I would like to add that these units are highly visible on campus and it is our intention to start highlighting the metrics in our dining units via electronic messaging. This may include digital displays, The Housing Insider and social media platforms. There is also great deal of interest in biogas impact from these units. I have met with 2 groups of students from the CEE 190 class about these units in the past month.

     

    In short, this program reduces carbon emissions, produces fertilizer and creates energy. The systems are highly reliable and have had almost no issues to date. Please see the attachments for additional info.

     

    Thank you for your consideration, 

     

    THURMAN ETCHISON


    Assistant Director of Dining - Facilities and Equipment

     

    Attached Files: 

  16. Reusable container update - through 9/30

    Associated Project(s): 
    Reusable Containers

    Below are the counts of meals logged in our POS systems as served in To Go boxes from the beginning of the semester thru Thursday, Sept. 30. 

    Breakfast To Go, Meals 349           
    Lunch-To Go, Meals 402              
    Dinner- To Go, Meals 143    
    Late Night To Go, Meals 2 
    Box - To Go, Meals 147

    Total meals: 896

  18. "How Can We Reduce Waste from Agricultural and Food Systems?"

    Associated Project(s): 
    iSEE Congress
    Food Waste Reduction

    True food circularity must include waste reduction on the agricultural and consumer sides. Don't miss this third iSEE Congress webinar on "Circular Food Systems," with Brian Roe, Van Buren Professor of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics at Ohio State; and Tom Theis, Director of The Institute for Environmental Science and Policy, University of Illinois Chicago. Register here >>>

    November 3, 12–1 pm • Zoom webinar

    Julie Wurth • Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment

    "How Can We Reduce Waste from Agricultural and Food Systems?"

  20. archived info - previous project info

    Associated Project(s): 
    Reusable Containers

    Previous Title: Reusable Dining Options

    Previous Project Description: The Zero Waste SWATeam is interested in pursuing reusable service options for campus facilities which serve food at any capacity. This particularly applies to to-go options.

    A to-go option using reusable containers will be implemented this fall in University Housing Dining at three locations: Lincoln Avenue Dining, Illinois Street Dining and Ikenberry Dining.  

    Previous Project Background: 

    As stated in the iCAP 2020, 

    "Objective #5.3 ensures that items used on campus-particularly at large events- are durable, repairable, and reusable, and that they contribute to our university-wide culture of reuse."

    This project is aligned with the goals of cultivating a zero waste culture on campus. Food is an enormous portion of the human experience, and rather than eliminate it, the Zero Waste SWATeam hopes to shift the paradigm towards the sustainable future the University of Illinois is planning. By providing opportunities for students to utilize reusable containers and participate in a reusable dining program, it will not only yield measurable reductions of single-use items in the waste stream, but will also bring sustainability to the forefront of each participant.

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